WARREN, MI -- A Macomb County Judge has dismissed a civil rights lawsuit that claimed a fifth-grader was subject to racial bias and harassment when a teacher read from
an graphic book about slavery, according to the Associated Press.

Judge John Foster handed down the ruling last week, throwing out the suit at the request of Warren
Consolidated Schools.

Foster found that the book supplemented the fifth-grade social studies curriculum and that the teacher
treated and helped students equally, the Macomb Daily reported today.

Jamey Petree's daughter was a student at Margaret Black
Elementary School in Sterling Heights when passages from the award-winning book "From Slave Ship to Freedom
Road" were
read. He sued in 2010.

The book contains racial epithets and racist characterizations.

The lawsuit claimed the book affected the girl's "mental and emotional well-being, past, present and future."

The illustrated book by Julius Lester chronicles the history of slavery in essays and illustrations that include kidnappings, auctions and whippings.

Petree's attorney Scott Combs plans to appeal, according to the Associated Press.